Devika Toprani

Devika Toprani is a human-AI learning systems architect, researcher, and educational innovator whose work explores how people can strengthen their thinking and reasoning before engaging with artificial intelligence. She is the creator of Somagraphic Learning™ and Map Before Machine™, frameworks designed to help learners externalize and organize their thinking through principles rooted in embodied cognition and cognitive load theory.

Born in Oman, Devika holds an MS in Management from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, dual degrees in Psychology from George Mason University and the University of Mumbai, and a Google UX Design certification.  

She has built her career across India, the UAE, and the US, coordinating national accreditation and competency evaluation pipelines at UIUC's School of Social Work and developing centralized learning infrastructure across K-12 and higher education. 

Devika is an individual research contributor to the Oxford AIEOU Human Flourishing Lab, with collaborative work archived in the Oxford University Research Archive alongside 550+ global educators. She authored the chapter "Pre-AI Sense-making Before Scale" in AI Everywhere Vol. 3 (Six Peas Press, Nov 2026). 

She has spoken about human-centered AI at University of Illinois WebCon 2026 and Northwestern University TEACHx 2026, with upcoming appearances at the Global Data & AI Virtual Tech Conference and Microsoft's Data Platform DEI Group. Her work has been featured in the Global Citizenship Education Interview Series, She Leads AI, Teach Coach Mentor, Cornucopia of STEM, and Empowered by AI. 

Devika believes that "Learning is not AI-made. It's Soul-made. AI only refines what YOU bring to the chatbot." She writes the Substack newsletter, Soulful Learning with AI, read by 700+ subscribers. 

Area(s) of Expertise: Somagraphic & Visual Learning